Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Fox

Twilight felt like her blood was freezing up. She had accepted the idea of being killed by Stella. She genuinely believed the other could be better. More than that though, she knew the other was too obsessed with proving herself superior to her specifically to simply take her offer. She hadn't used her coil once the whole fight, and that was more than proof enough. She had reasoned that against her refusal to fight back her ensuing breakdown would either lead to her finally agreeing to talk, or accepting Twilight's offer and proving herself better on Twilight's own terms, after killing her. She'd be a broken ruler, but better a broken ruler than a broken country, and after what she'd done to Manehattan Twilight didn't want to risk anything worse.

She hadn't accounted for Stella finding a third option. Maybe because she was tired and drained, maybe because she was thinking too much like the other to try and understand what she'd do. She wasn't wrong. Stella was obsessed with her and didn't care about her friends. But Stella had done the same thing in reverse, and thought about what Twilight would think. And Twilight did care about her friends. They were there by their own choice, but Twilight still had asked, still on some level had known she was the one endangering them. There were safety measures in place, but her mind didn't go there as she saw Stella fire towards the other ponies.

Her mind didn't go anywhere. It was empty as she watched it starting to happen, as she processed what the other was doing. When she acted, when enough time passed for it to be physically possible for her to act, she knew it was already too late for her to reach them. Too late to try to protect them. Stella's spell had been too fast, her shock too great, her condition too relaxed. She didn't try to go there. She didn't even think about what she was doing. She just acted, guided by an instinct she'd rarely felt before, one that for a moment overrode all control of her.

Stella's spell exploded where the four ponies were standing. Twilight's horn punctured Stella's neck, and a beam from it pierced through to the other side of it. She had moved so fast the other hadn't seen her, and she herself was barely aware of where she was or what she was doing. When she realised it, the pain of forcing her tired limbs to move that fast hit all throughout her, and just for a moment she faltered. Stella's face twisted in pain, her eyes grew bloodshot, but her expression as a whole strangely resembled a smile. She'd gotten what she wanted, after all. And in the moment Twilight hesitated, her horn still inside Stella's neck, Stella fired at her at point blank range.

The dust settled on the previous explosion, and from behind a shield Twilight's friends watched her body being enveloped by Stella's blast.

Comments

[Speckle]

OH SHI!!!!!!